A few weeks ago, we attended the Montreal Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) User Group meeting where the discussion topic revolved around the differences and challenges in working in Touch UI vs. Classic UI.

When Adobe introduced AEM 5.6 it also introduced a new mobile-friendly Touch UI (also known as Graphite UI). This UI was meant to address the growing need for authors to be able to create and edit content on their tablets and phones while on the go. Touch UI is designed with the author in mind, allowing for easy updates using a touch-device, while still supporting navigation with a mouse for users working on a laptop or desktop.

As the year comes to an end, we took a step back to reflect on the last twelve months. In doing so, we realized 2014 was a busy year; we celebrated our 25th anniversary, worked on a number of cool projects using different technology, we hosted and attended some great events, supported our community and much, much more.

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting the first local meeting of the Montreal Chapter of the Adobe Experience Manager (formerly Adobe CQ) user group. Since the event took place on the eve of World Usability Day, we decided to focus our discussion around the topic of Author Experience.

The concept of “author experience” has changed tremendously over the last several decades. Back in the 1970’s, content authors engaged with technology in a centralized way. Applications were housed on central servers and users needed to be trained on custom interactions. This often involved highly custom classes and training sessions. In the 1990’s, the interactions became more standard and industrialized and authors were given off-the-shelf manuals to learn how to use their tools.

Today, we understand that there is value in building technologies and systems that are more intuitive and provide greater guidance. When a web content management system (WCMS) is implemented with the author in mind, it will increase productivity, improve collaboration, reduce change management, ensure employee satisfaction, increase quality and content hygiene, and create better consistency and governance.

But how do you design your web content management implementation to meet the needs of your authors? Let’s look at some recommendations and best practices.